Key holder for inside a purse

ABSTRACT

A purse with a magnetically attractive piece affixed to the inside wall of the purse adjacent the opening of the purse. A second magnetically attractive piece is in a cup shape and encircles a magnet affixed therein so that the second piece and the magnet can be magnetically held to the first piece and removed therefrom, as desired. The second piece contains a key retainer, so that keys can be removably held in the purse in the position determined by the location of the first piece inside the purse. The second magnetically attractive piece has an edge which extends beyond the magnet and thereby provides complete and flat contact with the first piece for maximum magnetic attraction between the two pieces.

United States Patent Nelson KEY HOLDER FOR INSIDE A PURSE [72] Inventor: Leone M. Nelson, 3514 Poe Avenue,

Racine, Wis. 53405 [22] Filed: July 27, 1970 [21] Appl. No.: 58,559

[52] US. Cl. ..l50/40, 150/34 [51] Int. Cl. ..A45e "/32 [58] Held of Search 150/34, 35, 40', 70/457;

206/37 K, 38 K, DIG. 33; 248/206 A [56] Reler'ences Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,009,225 ll/l96l Budreck ..70/457 3,l I 1,736 ll/l963 Budreck ..70/457 X 3,326,258 6/1967 Stucker ..l50/34 FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATIONS 1,087,172 10/1967 Great Britain ..l50/40 [15] 3,682,216 51 Aug. 8, 1972 Primary Examiner-George E. Lowrance Assistant Examiner-Stephen P. Garbe Attorney-Arthur J. Hansmann [57] ABSTRACT A purse with a magnetically attractive piece affixed to the inside wall of the purse adjacent the opening of the purse. A second magnetically attractive piece is in a cup shape and encircles a magnet affixed therein so that the second piece and the magnet can be magnetically held to the first piece and removed therefrom, as desired. The second piece contains a key retainer, so that keys can be removably held in the purse in the position determined by the location of the first piece inside the purse. The second magnetically attractive piece has an edge which extends beyond the magnet and thereby provides complete and flat contact with the first piece for maximum magnetic attraction between the two pieces.

3 China, 6 Drawing Figures PATENTEDAUB 8 i972 3.882.216

s a INVENTOR.

LEONE M. NELSON ATTORNEY KEY HOLDER FOR nvsmna: A PURSE This invention relates to a key holder for inside a purse. More particularly, it pertains to a key holder which utilizes a magnet and a piece for encircling the magnet and for attaching to a key chain or the like so that the keys can be retained in a purse in a selected position which permits the keys to be readily found in the purse.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The prior art is already aware of key holders for use inside cases, such as handbags and purses. Further, the prior art is already aware of various arrangements of pieces which are subjected to magnets for magnetically securing the two pieces together. One example of the use of magnets for securing keys in specific positions is found in US. Pat. No. 3,277,681. Also, an example of the prior art showing the arrangement of a specific location for a key holder for inside a purse is found in US. Pat. No. 3,326,258.

It is a general object of this invention to provide an improved type of key holder for the inside of a purse. More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a key holder of the type which can be securely held in a certain position inside the purse and which can be readily removed from the purse to be completely free of the purse when the key is to be used.

Still further, it is the purpose and object of this invention to provide a key holder for inside a purse wherein the key holder is of a magnetic type which permits ready and easy placement and securing of the key in the purse and ready and easy removal of the key from the purse. Further, in accomplishing these objects, it is significant that the magnet itself is arranged so that it does not readily attract other objects to thereby interfere with or obstruct the intended use of the magnet in being positioned and attractive to only the specific locating piece secured within the purse. That is, the key holder is so arranged so that it will not inadvertently attract other objects in the purse and thereby be a nuisance in the provision of the magnet itself, especially when the magnet is inserted into the purse in positions adjacent the numerous magnetically attractive items which may be inside the purse.

Still further, it is an object of this invention to pro vide a kit type of key holder which can be readily and easily mounted in a purse which is already manufactured. That is, the owner of the purse or case can purchase the key holder parts of this invention and mount the parts in the purse in the particular position desired but without making any structural modifications or attachments relative to the purse.

It is significant that the key holder of this invention utilizes the magnet and its substantially enclosing piece for the dual purposes of attaching the piece to a key chain and for the purpose of presenting the piece as a fob when the piece and key chain and keys are removed from the purse. With this arrangement, the fob piece is available for serving as a grippable piece which the user can hold in handling the keys and thereby insure that the keys will not be dropped or lost when the fob piece is removed from the purse.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent upon reading the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. I is a side elevational view of a purse having a preferred embodiment of this invention disposed therein.

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along the line 2-2 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a side elevational view of FIG. 2.

H6. 4 is a lefi side elevational view of parts shown in FIG. 2.

FIGS. 5 arnd 6 are perspective views of parts shown in FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT A lady's purse 10 may be of any conventional type, and it is shown to have a closure flap 1] and an upper edge 12 which defines the opening into the purse, and the opening is generally designated 13 in FIG. 2. lmmediately adjacent the edge 12 and inside the purse is a first magnetically attractive piece 14 which is a flat and thin disc. This is of a metal material, preferable of a low grade steel and may be a cold rolled steel. The disc 14 is secured within the purse 10 by afl'nxing it to the purse inside wall 16 through cement or the like, and FIG. 2 shows that an adhesive sheet 17 is disposed between the purse surface 16 and the disc 14 so that the sheet 17 is adhered to the surface 16 and the disc 14 to securely retain the disc 14 on the wall of the purse. By the use of a sheet 17 having adhesive coatings on both faces of the sheet 17, the entire key holder can be provided in a kit form so that it can be used with any already existing purse or case without structurally attaching the disc 14 to the purse or case.

A magnet 18 is secured to a second magnetically attractive piece 19 and this securing may be by cementing the magnet 18 to the wall 21 of the piece 19. Also, the piece 19 is of a magnetically attractive material, but it is of a material which is more magnetically attractive than is the disc 14, for a purpose mentioned later. The piece 19 also has an endless wall 22 extending around the periphery of the piece 19 and thereby encircling the magnet 18 to enclose the magnet 18 on all sides except the side adjacent the disc 14. However, as seen in F IG. 2, the magnet 18 and the piece 14 have a space 23 therebetween. Therefore, the piece 19 presents an edge 24 in contact with the planar face 26 of the disc 14, and the edge 24 defines the end of the wall 22 and is therefore an endless edge in fiat contact with the disc planar face 26.

With the arrangement described, it is found that the attraction effect of a given size magnet 18 is a maximum when the pieces 14 and 19 are constructed and related as described, namely, with the edge 24 in contact with the piece 14. That is, it has been found that the magnet 18 in direct contact with the piece 14 is not as strongly attracted to the piece 14 as is the attraction of the pieces as described and shown. Further, with the magnet in the piece 19, as shown even the wall 21 of the piece 19, if turned around and placed in contact with the disc 14, is not as strongly attracted to the piece 14 as is the piece 19 in the position shown in FIG. 2.

The piece 19 has a loop 27 fornned thereon, and the loop is connected to a key chain 28 carrying a key ring 29 which in turn supports keys, such as the key 31.

With the arrangement described, it will therefore be understood and seen that the keys 3] can be secured inside the purse in any selected position so that the keys 31 can be readily found and removed from the purse. Also, with the arrangement of the piece loop 27 and the chain 28, the assembly of the piece 19 and the key chain and keys can be easily removed from the disc 14 by simply grasping the chain 28 and thereby sliding the piece 19 along the disc 14 until the piece 19 is free of the disc 14. That is, the power of the magnet is easily overcome by the sliding action described, and such sliding action is more effective than attempting to pull the piece 19 directly away from the disc 14, and the chain 28, along with the loop 27, provide a means for easily sliding the piece 19 and thereby removing the keys from the purse.

FIGS. 3, 4, and 6 show that the piece 19 is cupshaped, and the magnet 18 is circular in its shape and is positioned inside the piece 19 but spaced from the wall 22 for easy positioning of the magnet 18 inside the piece 19, in the manufacture of the assembly of the two pieces. Also, FIG. 5 shows that the disc 14 is of a circular shape and is thin and of an overall size greater than the overall extent of the piece 19 along the disc 14 so that the piece 19 can be easily positioned in full contact with the disc 14 and not necessarily centered thereon.

Further, with the magnet 18 recessed in the piece 19, relative to the plane along the edge 24 to provide the space 23, as described, the piece 19 is not as apt to magnetically attract other metal items inside the purse, since the magnet 18 is somewhat shielded from such undesirable magnetic action. Thus the piece 19 provides an inside pocket which receives the magnet 18 in the enclosed or recessed position described, since the height of the wall 22 is greater than the thickness of the magnet 18, as seen in FIG. 2. Still further, because of the difference in magnetic properties of the disc 14 and piece 19, the magnet 18 will remain in fixed position with the piece 19 and will not tend to be held on the disc 14, in the event the cement between the magnet 18 and piece 19 were to weaken or fail. in fact, the arrangement is such that the magnet 18 will remain with the piece 19 even without cementing the magnet to the piece 19. Also, when one grasps the chain 28 and slides the piece 19 off the disc 14, the piece 19 is available for assisting gripping the chain 28, and the piece 19 therefore functions as a chain fob for holding and controlling the keys 31. By the arrangement of recessing the magnet 18 in the piece 19 and having the edge 24 in contact with the disc 14, the strength of the magnet increases from a holding force of 6 or 7 ounces to a holding force of 4 pounds.

What is claimed is:

l. A key holder for inside a purse, comprising a purse having a wall and an opening defined by an edge of said wall, a magnetically attractive flat disc affixed to said wall inside said purse and immediately adjacent said edge, a magnet of a flat shape, a cup-shaped member affixed to said magnet and surrounding said magnet, said member having an endless wall defining a pocket and encircling said magnet, said wall of said member being higher than the thickness of said magnet and extending beyond the outer limit of said magnet in said pocket, said wall of said member terminating in an Zin isi Zfiifiilii iii? e ii failiiiifii completely lie on said flat disc and be magnetically held thereto, and a key chain attached to said member for holding keys and being available for grasping and sliding said member off said disc.

2. The key holder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said member is of a material more magnetically responsive than the material of said flat disc to ensure that said magnet remains affixed to said member, at least through magnetic attraction.

3. The key holder as claimed in claim 1, including adhesive paper for affixing said disc to said purse wall by adhering thereto. 

1. A key holder for inside a purse, comprising a purse having a wall and an opening defined by an edge of said wall, a magnetically attractive flat disc affixed to said wall inside said purse and immediately adjacent said edge, a magnet of a flat shape, a cup-shaped member affixed to said magnet and surrounding said magnet, said member having an endless wall defining a pocket and encircling said magnet, said wall of said member being higher than the thickness of said magnet and extending beyond the outer limit of said magnet in said pocket, said wall of said member terminating in an endless edge extending along a flat plane and being of a girth less than the size of the face of said flat disc to completely lie on said flat disc and be magnetically held thereto, and a key chain attached to said member for holding keys and being available for grasping and sliding said member off said disc.
 2. The key holder as claimed in claim 1, wherein said member is of a material more magnetically responsive than the material of said flat disc to ensure that said magnet remains affixed to said member, at least through magnetic attraction.
 3. The key holder as claimed in claim 1, including adhesive paper for affixing said disc to said purse wall by adhering thereto. 